Mommy's Girl
by YoshiStormtrooper01
Summary: So many things have changed for Phoebe Halliwell over the past eight years, the newest being defeating the Ultimate Power and finally finding her "Mr. Right." But will she be able to handle the greatest change of all? New chapter! Sorry it took so long.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"Piper, you can't be serious." I roll my eyes at the sky. Once again, my older sister is going on about how she thinks a demon is "wreaking havoc" at P3. "A demon hasn't caused problems at P3 in what, like, three years?"

"They can always come back. Nothing ever stays good with us, you know that, Phoebe," Piper retorts, wrapping her jacket tighter around her body.

Rolling my eyes again, I rub my gloved hands together, attempting to ward off the chilly December air. "Whose bright idea was it to wait outside while Paige gets the coffee?"

"I have no idea." Piper rubs her arms and shivers. Just then, Paige comes walking out of the café, a warm gust of air following closely behind.

"Here are your piping hot drinks, ladies," she says, handing us each a cup with "CAUTION: HOT" printed in big black letters on the side. "Sorry it took me so long. There was this stupid freak at the front who was taking for_ever_."

"That's alright, Paige," I reply, taking my drink from her. "Let's go, before I freeze to death."

"I don't remember it ever being this cold in San Francisco," Piper says after five minutes of walking in silence through the nearly deserted streets. "And it's almost two weeks until Christmas; I would think that at least a few people would be out doing some last-minute shopping."

"It's kind of eerie…" I say. Looking around us, I see only a few cars parked on the sides of the street. Every once in a while a car covered with ice comes drifting by, the driver ever-so-warily avoiding skidding on the slick streets. "I have a bad feeling."

"Phoebe, you always have bad feelings," Paige mutters into her coffee cup. "Come on, let's hurry up. I told Henry I'd be home to help wrap presents."

Suddenly, movement up the street catches my eye. I stop, causing my sisters to crash into my back.

"Phoebe, what the…" Piper prods and nudges my back, trying to get me to move.

A group of kids are running at a full-out sprint towards us from across the street, a couple of them narrowly escaping being hit by the few cars that are out.

"Phoebe, get out of the way!" Paige exclaims as the kids get ever closer.

I barely hear her; the blood is pounding in my head as I watch one of the younger girls bound up onto our sidewalk. She looks so familiar; it feels as though I know her.

Piper and Paige yell my name simultaneously, urging me to get out of the way of the teenage stampede. Snapping back to reality, I try to jump out of the way. I manage to avoid the majority of them, but the girl's arm slams into mine, causing her to cry out in pain.

_The window of the taxi is fogged up. Wiping away a hole in the moisture, I see my tear-stained face looking back at me. I look down at my stomach, wrap my arms around my body and rock back and forth, letting loose all of the emotion held inside. _

_ A flash of light, and I'm inside a house; glancing around, I realize that I'm in a living room. I feel big and bloated. Looking down at my stomach again, I see a bulge protruding. Letting out a strangled cry, I begin to rub my round abdomen. I feel a kick and I startle, drawing in a breath. Closing my eyes, I lay my head against the back of the couch and sigh heavily, still rubbing my stomach with both hands. _

_ Another scene; this time, I'm standing outside of a large stone building, my arms wrapped around myself again. I find my stomach to be flat, which makes me cry even harder than I already am. A man comes up to me and leads me to a taxi, which I climb into slowly. Watching the stone building recede into the distance as the taxi drives away, I run my fingers down the window and say softly, "Goodbye, my baby. Mommy loves you." _

Coming out of my premonition, I let out a loud cry, and immediately tears begin spilling down my face.

"Phoebe, what happened? Was that a premonition?" Piper asks concernedly, wrapping her arms around my shaking body.

"Pheebes? Are you alright?" Paige asks, gripping both my arms and glancing at Piper worriedly.

Unable to stand, even with the support of both of my sisters, I collapse onto the ground.

"We need to get her somewhere out of sight so I can orb her home," Paige says quickly. Laboriously, she and Piper lift me to my feet and limp with me into a small side alleyway. They allow me to return to the ground, once again becoming the sobbing mess that I was on the sidewalk. Closing my eyes, I feel a tingle and a bright light penetrates my closed eyes, telling me that Paige is orbing us to the Manor.

The bright light fades, leaving me feeling cold and vulnerable.

"Leo! Coop! Henry!" Piper calls out. "Someone!"

"Piper, what is it?" Leo asks as he bounds down the stairs.

"It's Phoebe; she had a premonition and then she started freaking out. I don't know what's wrong with her." Piper's voice sounds anxious, strained, and worried. I hate making her feel this way, but I can't even catch my breath or blink tears away long enough to apologize for scaring her.

With a slight jingling sound, Coop transports into the room.

"What the hell happened?" I hear him ask. His footsteps quickly approach my side and he gently rolls me over so that I am facing him. Wiping away the wet hair sticking to my face, he takes my hand and kisses it. "Phoebe. Baby, are you okay?"

I take a shuddering breath. "I had a premonition…" I say quietly.

"What was it about?" Piper asks, also kneeling down next to me. "It sure threw you for a loop back there."

I look from Piper to Coop, and then up at Paige and Leo. Slowly, I raise myself up onto my elbows. "Uh, Piper? Paige? Can I talk to you guys upstairs?"

"Yeah, sure, honey," Paige says. Bending down, she rests one of her hands on my shoulder and the other on Piper's arm.

"Are you sure you'll be okay, sweetie?" Coop asks me anxiously, standing up.

I smile up at him, my eyes still puffy and red from crying. "Yeah, baby. I'll be fine." I squeeze his hand as Paige orbs her, Piper and me upstairs.

When the lights fade, I see that Paige orbed us to Piper's room. Pulling back the covers, I crawl under the blankets and pull them up so they're covering everything but my head. Piper and Paige curl up beside me and Piper rests her head on my shoulder.

"So what is this insane crying about?" she asks. "You're worrying me. I haven't seen you cry like this since… well, to be honest, since we vanquished Cole the first time."

I sigh heavily and close my eyes. "You are _not_ going to like it, trust me."

Piper looks up at me. "You can tell us anything, sweetie, you know that."

Paige takes my right hand in hers. "Yeah, Pheebes, you know we won't judge you."

Taking another deep breath, I open my eyes. "Just promise me one thing."

"Anything," they say together.

"That nothing will change between us or what you think of me after I tell you." I look at my sisters, waiting for an answer.

"Of course, Phoebe," Piper says after a moment.

"You bet," Paige says.

Sighing one last time, I begin my story.

"Piper, you didn't know this at the time, but when I left to move to New York, it was because I was pregnant."

Piper and Paige are silent for a few moments.

"Are you serious?" Piper exclaims. "Phoebe, if you'd have told us, we could've helped you, we could've-"

"Piper, that's in the past. Can I just tell my story without a ton of interruptions, please? It's hard enough thinking about it, let alone telling the entire story out loud."

"Yes." Piper takes my free hand in hers. "Go ahead."

"Do you remember Clay?" I ask her.

"The guy who brought the stolen Egyptian urn to Prue to get to her to sell it?"

"Yeah. Him."

"Who?" Paige asks curiously.

"One of Phoebe's old boyfriends from New York who came to visit when we first found out we were witches," Piper tells her.

"I know I told you and Prue that I met him in New York, Piper, but I was trying to cover up. I actually met him one night at a club, here in San Francisco, about two months before Grams died. That night, I had had a lot to drink, and when Clay came along, I didn't protest when he wanted to take me back to his place. We… slept together."

I close my eyes and sigh heavily.

"During the next few weeks, I began to feel… off. I decided to take the pregnancy test the day before Grams died. That was the day I found out that I was pregnant." I run my hands shakily through my hair and try to hold back the onslaught of tears that are threatening to break free. "Then when Grams died, I remembered that Clay had told me that he lived in New York. I knew that that would be my only chance to get away with having a baby without anyone knowing. So that's what I did."

"Phoebeeee…" Piper groans softly. Paige rubs my shoulder as I begin to cry.

"When I got to New York, I couldn't manage to get in touch with Clay to tell him that I was pregnant with his child. I even went to his apartment. The land lord said that he had gone on a foreign trip and wouldn't be back for a few months. I bought an apartment and waited. When he eventually came back, I showed up on his doorstep, four months pregnant." I take a shuddering breath, wiping away the tears that are running down my face. "We argued about what to do with the baby. He thought it would be best that I get an abortion, which I was _completely_ against. When he started getting angry, I got up and left.

"Eventually, I decided that I would carry the baby full term, and then…" Another shuddering breath "Give her up for adoption." By that point, I can no longer control my emotions. I start to cry intensely; long, hard sobs that reverberate around the room. Piper and Paige try to console me, again with no avail.

"I had a little baby girl. I had a daughter, and I let her go. How could I have been so god damn stupid?" I exclaim, my voice choked with tears.

"Phoebe, honey, it's going to be okay," Piper says, trying to calm me down.

"No, it is _not_ going to be okay, Piper! If you had to give up Wyatt or Chris what would you do? How would you feel?" Piper averts her eyes. "Seriously, Piper. I want to know. If you had to give up one of your little boys just as you were getting to know their little baby habits, what they like, what they don't; how would you cope with that?"

"I honestly don't know, Phoebe," she replies quietly.

"The crazy thing is, I think I saw my little girl today," I say after a few moments of silence.

"You did?" Paige asks, speaking for the first time since I finished my story.

"Yeah." I lean my head back against the pillow and smile up at the ceiling. I think about what my daughter looked like, how she ran, how her hair flowed behind her as sprinted down the sidewalk.

"You mean that girl that crashed into you today?" Paige asks skeptically. "That was your long-lost daughter?"

I smile ecstatically at my younger sister. "It was! I know it was her. She's more beautiful than I could have thought possible." I wipe away the remainder of the tears from my cheeks with a tissue, taking quite a bit of my make-up as well.

"Phoebe, do you think we should call Morris, see if he knows anything?" Piper asks hesitantly. "Since he's moved back and forgiven us for his near-death experience and all, I'm pretty sure he'd be happy to help you find your daughter. Someone's bound to notice six teenagers running through the streets almost getting hit by cars."

I smile at her, glad that she's not easily emotionally injured. "I think that would probably be the best thing to do. I mean, I'm not even sure if she's a witch, and I don't have anything of hers, so I can't scry for her."

"When are you going to tell Coop?" Paige asks suddenly.

I take a breath. "I'm not sure. My mind says to tell him soon, as in, right _now_, but my gut says to wait until I know more about her and what she's been through."

"Well, then, let's get crackin' on that, shall we?" Piper claps her hands together and the three of us climb laboriously out of her comfortable bed, jumping right into an unknown future and an even more mysterious present.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"Vanessa, let's go!" Jamie says loudly, shaking me awake.

"Huh? What?" I shoot straight up, my hair falling in front of my face. "Where are we?"

"An abandoned house in San Francisco." Jamie pats my leg and stands up. "Let's go, kid."

Sighing, I stand up and stretch my arms above my head. "Why do we always stay in abandoned houses?"

"Cause we're fugitives of the law," she says sarcastically. "But really, where else are orphans gonna stay? The Hilton?"

I chuckle. "Good point, chicken little."

"Vanessa! Jamie! You guys coming?" someone calls from downstairs.

"YUP!" Jamie calls back. "Come on, Nessa, before Danielle has a conniption."

"Hey, Jamie?"

"Yuh?" She spins on her heel just before she walks out the door.

"How long are we gonna be staying in this neck of the woods?" I ask casually, pulling my unruly hair into a ponytail.

Jamie shrugs. "A couple of days. Why?"

"I just wanna check a couple of things out," I tell her.

"Does it have anything to do with your birth mother?" She raises an eyebrow quizzically.

"Yeah. Is that okay? I know she lives, or lived, somewhere in San Francisco."

"It's fine. Just make sure you're back by dark. I don't want you to pull another Derek." She pats my shoulder and walks out of the room.

"Ah, Derek. What are we going to do with you?" I mumble to myself. Derek, the one person in our entire "gang" who I've ever been able to connect with, is, to put it kindly, a bit of a flake. A few weeks ago, we were in Las Vegas and Derek and I were walking along The Strip. And Derek, being the utter _genius_ that he is, decided to go looking around. _Without_ telling me where he was going. So, naturally, I walk around searching for him, panicking for at least two hours. I went back to where we were camping, totally freaking out, thinking something awful happened. All of us searched for him through the night and into the early hours of the morning, and no one could find him. When we went back to the camp, we were all thinking the worst. Of course, come to find out, Derek was waiting for us when we got back.

Carefully making my way down the rickety stairs, I walk into the boarded-up living room to see our entire group gathered up on the moth-eaten couch in the middle of the room, peering over Danielle's shoulder at something in her hand.

"Whatcha guys doin'?" I ask, coming up behind them.

Danielle quickly stuffs whatever she was holding in between the couch cushions. "Nothing," she replies, not meeting my eyes.

"What's that?" I nod at the cushions.

"It's just… something we found in one of the drawers upstairs. Probably belonged to whoever lived here," Jamie replies quickly, not meeting my eyes either.

I turn to Derek, knowing he's the one person who is completely incapable of lying. Especially to me. "Derek? What were you guys looking at?"

Groaning, he reaches into the cushions and pulls out a crumpled up piece of paper. "Here," he says. Handing it to me, he leaves the room, with Jamie, Danielle, and the other two, Ethan and Alexis, following closely behind.

Taking their spot on the couch, I open the paper. My heart skips a beat when I see that it is addressed to me.

Settling down deeper into the cushions, I begin to read.

'Vanessa,

If you're reading this, then you must at least know who I am and that you're adopted. I hope your parents chose the right time to give this to you. I can not even begin to imagine how gorgeous you must be, how much you've grown since I've seen you last. If you don't know who I am already, if your parents haven't told you, then my name is Phoebe Halliwell. I'm your birth mother.'

My mind goes blank. All I can think is, "This is my mother's handwriting. She actually wrote this." I realize that I've been holding my breath since I began reading, and I let it out.

My adoptive parents never really told me much about my birth mother from San Francisco, only that she gave me up because she didn't have the means to take care of me at the time. They didn't know anything about who my birth father is, because my mother, whose name I now know is Phoebe, wasn't in touch with him. My parents seemed to think she was some kind of irresponsible slut who didn't care if she got pregnant, but somehow, I knew she wasn't. But now that I have this letter, I can hopefully find out what really happened.

'I know you might hate me for giving you up, but I want you to know that I wanted anything but that. At the time that I became pregnant with you, I was in a bad spot in my life. I was in a huge fight with one of my older sisters, Prue, my grandmother was very sick, and I was… kind of a delinquent. The night I met Clay, your father, I am ashamed to admit that I was drunk. I met him at a bar, and we went a little too far.

When I found out that I was expecting a child, you, I didn't know what to do. I was still living at home with my two older sisters and grandmother. But when my Grams died, I realized that I would have to leave San Francisco and move to New York, where Clay lived. I knew that it was the only way I could have you without my sisters ever finding out. Now, my sisters aren't totally awful, judgmental stiffs, but I was terrified of what they would think of me if they found out I was pregnant. I respect them and their opinions too much.

When I got to New York, Clay was away on a long trip, so I bought a small apartment with the little money that I had brought with me, and lived there for about two months before he finally came back. I sure gave him a shock when I showed up at his door, four months pregnant with his child. We argued about what to do when you arrived. I knew that I was absolutely not going to get an abortion, no matter what Clay said or what he thought was best. I wanted to keep you, but when I realized that I barely had enough money to care for myself properly, then I definitely could not care for a baby. So, in the end, I decided that the best thing for you would be to give you up for adoption, where I hope beyond hope that you found a loving, suitable home where you were able to grow up, happy and healthy.

That's the story, Vanessa. I hope you don't think that I'm some sort of slut or something because I got pregnant unexpectedly. We all make mistakes, and some are bigger than others, but those mistakes are what helps us learn and grow throughout our lives. I want you to know that I love you with all my heart and that I think of you every single day. You're my baby, even though someone else raised you. I hope someday that we'll be lucky enough to meet, and you can meet your aunts and see where you come from.

I enclosed a picture of me, your Aunt Prue and Aunt Piper outside of our house that my Grams took a little before she died. Piper is on the left, Prue's in the middle, and I am on the right. If you ever get the chance to visit, the address is 1329 Prescott Street in San Francisco, California.

I love you so much, Vanessa.

Sincerely and Forever Yours,

Your mom, Phoebe'

I set the letter down next to me, rereading the last line over and over again in my mind's eye. "'Your mom, Phoebe. Your mom, Phoebe.'"

I hear footsteps behind me and look over my shoulder to see Danielle and Derek coming in from another room.

"Did you finish reading it?" Derek asks, sitting down next to me.

I take a breath. "Yeah."

"Are you okay?" Danielle sits down on my other side and strokes my hair. Danielle is the oldest out of all of us. She's sixteen, very tall for her age, and is the one person I know who can beat up a group of three guys by herself. We've also been friends since we were babies. She's been the sister I never had ever since I can remember.

"I feel better now that I know why my mom decided to give me up for adoption," I say quietly.

"I'm glad." Derek puts his arm around me and kisses my head.

"Danielle, how did you get the letter in the first place?" I ask her.

"I, uh, found it on your mom's bed back home the day they… you know…"

I look at my feet, remembering the awful night, almost two years ago, when mine and Danielle's parents died in a horrible accident on their way home from dinner, orphaning both her and me. That's how we met Derek, Jamie, Ethan, and Alexis. We were sent to an orphanage in upstate New York, where the nuns took great pride in finding the worst possible punishments for us. After suffering there for five months, the six of us, the then-fourteen-year-old Danielle, thirteen-year-old twins Jamie and Alexis, twelve-year-old Ethan, eleven-year-old Derek, and little nine-year-old me, managed to escape. We still don't really know how we managed it, six kids barely entering puberty escaping from that stone prison, but we've been going across the states ever since, searching for God knows what. Ethan likes to call it "soul searching."

"Did you happen to find a picture with the letter?" I ask.

"As a matter of fact, I did." She gets up and rustles through her torn up old backpack, and returns with a picture folded in half. "Here you go, sweetie. I didn't look at it, cause I thought you'd want to be the first one to see it. I don't even think your parents ever even looked at it."

I take the picture shakily from her hand and carefully tear the tape holding it closed. Unfolding it, a smile spreads across my face. Looking again at the letter, it says my Aunt Piper is on the left, Aunt Prue in the middle, and my mom on the right. All three of them are amazingly beautiful, especially my mother. She looks like such an amazing person.

"Which one's your mom, V?" Derek asks, peeking over my shoulder. I point at her on the right, my finger lingering over her face for a moment.

Suddenly, a dizzy spell sweeps over me and I feel like I'm being pulled on a rollercoaster. I suck in a sharp breath.

_"When does she arrive?" _

_ The front door opens, revealing a beautiful young woman. "Surprise!" She flourishes a key. "I found the hide-a-key!" _

_ The oldest of the three young women purses her lips and crosses her arms angrily, turning around to face the youngest. The middle woman gives the oldest a glare and then looks over at the youngest and smiles. _

_ "Phoebe, welcome home!" the middle woman walks forward and embraces the youngest, Phoebe. _

_ A shadow crosses over Phoebe's face momentarily before she quickly recovers. "Hello, Piper!" she exclaims, returning the embrace. _

_ "It's so good to see you!" Piper says. Turning around, she widens her eyes at the other woman. "Isn't it, Prue?" _

_ Prue gives Phoebe a hard stare. "I'm speechless." She cracks a stiff smile. _

_ The scene fast-forwards to a few minutes later. _

_ "Look, I know you don't want me here," Phoebe says to Prue, crossing her arms. _

_ "We're not selling Grams's house," Prue snaps. _

_ "Is that why you think I came back?" _

_ "Look, the only reason Piper and I gave up our apartment to move back here is because this house has been in our family for generations," Prue retorts._

_ "No history lesson needed. I grew up here, too. So can we talk about what's really bothering you?" _

_ "No, I'm still furious with you." _

_ "So you'd rather have a tense reunion filled with boring chit chat and uninteresting small talk?" _

_ "No, but otherwise we won't have anything to talk about."_

_ "I never touched Roger." _

_ "Whoa." _

I gasp and clutch my chest, the letter and picture falling from my grasp. I stumble backwards and fall onto the couch, still breathing heavily.

"Vanessa, what the hell happened?" Danielle asks worriedly, flittering around me nervously.

I look up at her, panicking. "I don't know."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

_Okay, so in case I didn't explain this well enough, the story takes place two weeks prior and leading up to Christmas of '09. I decided to set it then because Christmas is kind of a cliché for "family togetherness", I guess. So, I hope you like this chapter. I should be done with the fourth chapter soon. _

"So her name's Vanessa?" Paige asks conversationally as we're driving through the busy San Francisco streets.

"Yes. I thought it was a really pretty name, and no one in our family has used it before, so I went with it." I smile in the rearview mirror at her.

"I like it. It's a nice break from the P names for girls in our family," Paige says.

"I thought it was, too," I chuckle. Pulling into the police office parking lot, Piper, Paige and I get out of my little silver Mini-Cooper.

"How do you think Coop is going to react to your having a daughter?" Piper asks.

I shrug. "Honestly, I don't know. I hope he's happy that I finally found her. But he probably already knows, since he's a Cupid."

"Phoebe, Paige, Piper." We turn around to see Darryl walking up the stairs behind us, his arms full of files.

"Hey, let us help you with those," I say, reaching out to take some off the top of the pile.

"No, really, it's okay-" he protests. Not listening to him, my sisters and I each take a good chunk of the files, leaving him with only a few.

"We fight demons every day, Darryl. We can handle carrying a few papers," Paige smirks.

"We're so glad to have you back," I say, smiling up at Darryl as we walk into the building and up to his office. "We missed you."

"Thanks, guys," he smiles. He sits down behind his desk and props his feet up on its surface. "Now, what did you ladies want help with?"

"Promise you won't say anything to anyone?" I say. He nods. "Not even to Leo or Coop or Henry, now. They don't know yet."

"Promise." He crosses his heart.

"Alright." I sit down on one of the chairs in front of the desk, Piper and Paige taking the chair to either side. "I need you to help us find information on a girl."

"What's her name?" Darryl leans forward to his computer.

"Her first name is Vanessa." I look at him apologetically. "I'm sorry; I don't know her last name."

Darryl leans back a little. "Why do you need to find her?"

"She's my daughter," I say slowly. I then tell him the entire story of what happened to her.

"And the other day when were walking down by the café, I think I saw her running down the street with some other kids," I finish. I sit back in my seat, waiting for an answer.

"Uh… um… so, how do you know it was her?" Darryl asks after a moment of silence.

"When she was running past, she shoved into me and I had a vision of the past when I was pregnant with her," I reply.

"How can I help you find her?" he asks, returning to his computer.

I smile happily, looking at both my sisters. "Could you check out the adoption agency I gave her to? They probably keep records of the children that were adopted, right?"

We spend the next few minutes exchanging information, figuring out where my daughter ended up.

"Hey, I found her," Darryl says. Piper, Paige and I lean forward in our chairs. " 'Born September 26, 1998 to a Ms. Phoebe Halliwell of San Francisco, California.'" My heart skips a beat as I hear my name mentioned. " 'Daughter Vanessa, one week old at time of surrendering, adopted into the family of Jake and Allison Bauer of Rochester, New York. One month old at time of adoption.'" He smiles at me over the computer. I smile back, a little stunned that we actually found her. "Here's her picture." I'm on my feet and behind the screen before he even has the chance to look up.

I begin to cry as I look at my daughter's picture.

"How old is she here?" I ask quietly.

"It says that she's about seven months old. There's a few more."

Piper and Paige come up next to me and smile as they see pictures of their niece.

"In this one she's two years old." Darryl stops for a few minutes on each picture, allowing me time to soak in the image of my daughter as she gets older. In the next three pictures Vanessa is five, six and a half, and at her eighth birthday party at a lake.

"Phoebe, she looks just like you," Piper says, also crying. "She's gorgeous."

"Do you want me to print them for you, Phoebe?" Darryl asks.

I nod wordlessly, unable to take my eyes from the screen. Darryl clicks PRINT and then stands up to get them.

"How old is she now, Pheebes?" Paige asks, stroking my hair.

"Um…" I swallow and run my fingers through my hair and return to my seat. "She's eleven."

"I wonder why the pictures stopped after she turned eight," Paige wonders aloud.

I shrug.

"Uh, Phoebe?" Piper looks up at me from Darryl's desk chair. "Come and see this."

"What is it?" I ask. "Did something happen to Vanessa?"

"Not to _her_, exactly…" Piper scoots over so I can have a better view of the screen and I look where she is pointing.

A newspaper article from New York is taking up the screen, pictures of six children plastered on the front page.

As I read the article, my hand goes up and covers my mouth in shock.

"What?" Paige asks.

"It says…" I take a breath and try to speak through my tears. "It says that her adoptive parents both died tragically in a car crash in 2007 with two other people, and Vanessa was sent to an orphanage in upstate New York." I shake my head vigorously, trying to clear my brain of all the panic going through it. "Then it says that she somehow managed to escape the orphanage with five other kids five months later, and they haven't been seen since." My knees threaten to give way, and Piper quickly stands up, opening up a place for me to collapse. Slowly, they get me into the chair, where I sit rigidly, still in a state of shock from what I just read. For a few minutes, I'm just sitting there, staring off into space and trying to piece together information in my head.

"Phoebe," Paige says softly, squatting down in front of me.

Still staring at nothing, I say, "What?"

"She's not dead, honey. You saw her earlier today, remember?"

"But I'm not sure it even _was_ her," I argue back quietly.

"Why else would you have had that premonition?"

As I think about what Paige is saying, I realize that she's right. My eyes refocus on her and I smile.

"What's going on?" Darryl asks, coming back into the room, the pictures clutched in his hand.

"Oh, nothing. I had a little scare, that's all." I stand up and smile innocently at him. "Are those the pictures?"

"Uh, yeah. Here you go." Darryl hands them to me, still looking at me oddly.

"Thank you so much for the help, Darryl." I give him a quick hug and walk out of the office, calling over my shoulder, "If I need any other help, I'll call you."

He waves at us as we walk away, a confused look still on his face.

"Piper, where's the scrying crystal?" I call out the attic door.

"It should be up there!" Piper calls back up the stairs.

"Where up here?" Blowing hair out of my face, I close the lid of the wooden chest. "Help me out here!"

"Whatcha lookin' for, Aunt Phoebe?"

I look up to see Wyatt standing in the doorway, his shaggy blonde hair falling in front of his eyes. "The scrying crystal, Wyatt. Have you seen it?" Flipping over backwards, I begin rummaging around on the shelves where we keep the majority of our magical supplies.

He shakes his head. "No. Sorry."

"That was a nice little backwards roll there, sis," Paige chuckles, walking into the attic. As she passes Wyatt she scoops him up in her arms. "You are getting way too heavy for me to pick you up, mister. How old are you now? 10? 28?"

He laughs. "No, Aunt Paige. I'm seven!"

"Of course you are." She rolls her eyes sarcastically. "So how's the search for the crystal coming?" she asks, coming up behind me.

"Not good," I say. I look over my shoulder at her. "Have _you_ seen it lately? Piper is being no help whatsoever."

"I was using it the other day, but I haven't seen it since. I put it back where it was supposed to be, though." Putting Wyatt down, she crosses her heart. "Promise."

"I believe you, Paige," I say distractedly. Giving up on the shelves, I stand up and slap the table. "This is making me very frustrated." Closing my eyes, I sigh and rub my temples.

"Aunt Phoebe?"

I open one eye. "What is it, Wyatt?"

"Is this it?" He holds up a clear crystal hanging from a string.

"Oh, my god, yes!" I say excitedly. Taking it from him, I pepper his face with kisses and hug him tightly. "Thank you, Wyatt!"

"AGH!! Aunt Phoebe, stop it!" he exclaims, struggling to escape my arms.

Laughing, I let him go and he bolts from the attic.

"Where the hell did he find that?" Paige says, poking the crystal and making it swing back and forth.

"I have no idea, but I'm just going with it." Quickly unfolding the map of San Francisco, I gather all of the pictures of my daughter in my left hand and begin to scry with my right. "Come on, Vanessa, let me find you…" I mutter, watching the crystal swing in circles above the map, refusing to land.

"Maybe she's not in San Francisco anymore, Phoebe. She could've left," Paige says.

"I saw her a few hours ago, and plus, she's ten years old. Where does a ten-year-old go in such a hurry?" Suddenly, the crystal lands. Putting the scrying crystal and pictures down, I look up at my little sister. "Let's go find some kids, shall we?"

"So how many kids are you looking for?" Paige asks quietly.

"Six." Peeking around the corner, I see a few pedestrians still out and about. "But I don't see any of the ones I'm looking for."

"How do you even know what they look like?" She makes an exasperated sound. "And why do we always hide in alleys and peek out mysteriously? They don't even know we're looking for them. Come on." Paige pulls my wrist and we begin walking down the sidewalk, inconspicuously scanning for my daughter and her friends.

"I saw their pictures when I was reading the article about how Vanessa's parents died." I glance around me. "I scryed for them, so they should be here. Where are they?"

As if on cue, I hear a loud "whoop!" and a yell from behind me, and I turn around to see the group of kids running towards us. I sense Paige tensing up to chase them, and I put an arm out to stop her. I look at her and mouth, "Wait."

When the children have passed us, I nod at Paige. "Okay. Orb down there." I point to the end of the street where the kids are headed. "Just behind the corner, so they don't see us right away."

Glancing around, Paige and I duck into an alley and we orb down the street.

"Okay, Paige. I can take it from here," I tell my sister.

"Are you sure?" Paige looks at me anxiously. "Are you ready for this?"

I take a deep breath and smile at my sister. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be." Flourishing my hands upward, Paige takes the cue and orbs away, but not before giving me a quick hug.

I take a deep breath and step around the corner, ending up directly in front of a group of five teens.

"Hey, there, guys. How's it goin'?" I ask.

They look at each other oddly.

"Fine. Who are you?" one of the boys says.

"Do any of you know a girl named Vanessa?" I ask, not wasting time beating around the bush.

A look passes through the group of adolescents.

"Guys, look, I'm not looking to hurt anybody. I'm just trying to find someone." I pull a picture out of my pocket; the picture Grams took of Piper, Prue and I before she died. "Have you seen this picture? Has Vanessa shown it to you?"

The oldest of the girls is staring intently at the picture. "You're her mom?" she asks suddenly, looking up at me.

"Danielle," one of the other girls mutters.

"Do you girls know where I can find her?" I ask hopefully.

The oldest girl, Danielle, looks at the other kids. The boy who spoke before shrugs and then nods.

Danielle's gaze returns to me. "She went looking for you."

"Ouch! Stupid freaking bushes…" I mutter. Rubbing my thigh, I break the branch that poked into my leg and turn my attention back to the dark pink Victorian house across the street.

Three cars are parked in the driveway; a navy blue BMW SUV, a lime green VW bug, and a silver Mini Cooper. Everything seems so peaceful here; perfect house, perfect garden, perfect neighborhood, perfect everything. I haven't felt this at peace since before my parents died.

I've been waiting for someone to come out of the house, for any movement at all, for nearly forty-five minutes, and the only thing I've seen is someone opening curtains from an upstairs bedroom.

Suddenly, the front door opens and a brunette-haired woman walks out, carrying a toddler on her hip. I smile slightly, imagining my mother carrying me like that if she had been the one to raise me. Following closely behind her is another woman, a little taller than the first and with darker, shoulder-length brunette hair, who is holding two young boys by their hands. Both women seem anxious about something.

They pack the kids into the SUV and begin to back out of the driveway.

Just as they drive away, I hear a loud, frustrated yell. Quickly looking down the street in the opposite direction of the car, I see a group of kids running toward me.

"Oh, my god…" I say quietly, ducking lower behind the bushes. I realize the kids are Danielle, Derek, Ethan, Jamie, and Alexis, and that there is actually a woman amongst them; a woman who looks oddly familiar.

When the group reaches the Victorian house, the woman skids to a quick halt. She runs her fingers angrily through her hair and stomps the ground, staring after the car.

The woman starts turning around in every direction, and my breath catches in my throat. I realize she is my mother, Phoebe.

Danielle turns around as well. Cupping her hands around her mouth, she yells, "Vanessa!" Startled, I duck, if possible, even lower behind the bushes.

"Vanessa!" Derek yells. "We know you're here somewhere. You told us you were coming here."

"Vanessa, honey, I just want to talk to you," my mom says. "You might not want to, but I just want to see what you look like." When I don't come out after a few moments, she shrugs her shoulders, defeated.

I cannot decide whether or not to come out of my hiding place. There are too many thoughts rushing through my brain at once for me to make sense of them. When I finally make up my mind, my mom is making her way up the stairs into the house, and my friends are sprinting away back down the street.

"HEY!" I cry, standing up. My mother whirls around. "Hi, mom."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"It feels so strange."

Turning around, I see Vanessa standing in the middle of the front hall, her arms crossed across her chest.

"What feels strange, sweetie?"

She shrugs. "Being here, I guess." She meets my eyes. "I mean, I've always thought about what it would be like to actually meet you and see where you live and everything, but I never really thought that it would like, happen."

"You know, it feels pretty weird for me, too," I admit. Walking up beside my daughter, I put one arm around her shoulders and lead her into the conservatory. "We don't really have experience here with taking care of adolescent girls, so this should be interesting," I chuckle, sitting down with her on the wicker couch. She looks at me, straight-faced and anxious. "You know, Vanessa, I can't get over how much you look like my mother. It's amazing." The corners of her mouth form a small smile. "There's a smile." I grin too, and stroke her hair. "You're so beautiful. I still cannot get over how much you've grown."

"Well, it has been ten years, Mom," she says, her smile growing larger. "I probably didn't really look like much when I was a week old."

"Yeah, good point." We fall silent, not sure what to do or say next. Finally, I decide to break the silence. "So, how about I give you a tour of the house?"

"Sure. I'd like that. I haven't been in an actual occupied house since…" She looks down at her shoes.

"Since your parents died," I say, filling in where she left off. I pull her into a hug and kiss the top of her head. "I know the feeling. My mom died when I was really little, and my dad… he was never around. Piper, Prue and I were raised by our grandmother."

Vanessa raises her arms and wraps them around my neck, burying her face in my shoulder. I wrap my arms tighter around my precious daughter, not ever wanting to let go.

"Oh, my god." Paige stops in her tracks in the front hall. "I'm sorry, I didn't know that you guys were in here, I-" She stops mid-sentence, eyes wide, and looks back and forth between Vanessa and me.

"Paige, calm down. It's okay." I laugh a little, blinking away the tears that had come to my eyes. I release Vanessa from my embrace, kissing her head once more. "Where's Piper?" I ask my younger sister, laughing to myself at her "deer-caught-in-the-headlights" look.

"She's, uh, she's coming. She's talking to Victor on her cell." Paige points her thumb in the direction of the door.

"Who's that?" Vanessa whispers to me, gesturing her head towards Paige.

"Vanessa, this is your Aunt Paige." I take her hand and lead her forward. "Paige, I'd like you to meet your niece, Vanessa."

Vanessa nervously meets Paige's eyes. "Hi." She waves shyly.

Paige holds out her arms for a hug. "May I?" Vanessa nods. Grinning, Paige steps forward and hugs her new niece.

"Paige? Did you find-" Piper stops as she opens the front door. "-them." She takes in the scene before her, no emotion showing on her face.

"Yeah, Piper, I found them," Paige replies sarcastically, releasing Vanessa from her hug. "You're my Aunt Piper?" Vanessa asks, turning towards my big sister.

Piper hangs up her coat, not once taking her eyes off of her new-found niece.

After a few moments of silence, Vanessa smirks. "Do you always stare people down like that?"

Paige and I desperately suppress laughter at Vanessa's perfect comment.

Piper blinks once, twice, and then smiles.

"Sarcasm. That's good."

Vanessa grins, and steps into Piper's arms.

"Phoebe." Piper looks at me over Vanessa's head.

"Mhm?"

"She looks like mom." Piper smiles sweetly and rests her cheek on the top of Vanessa's head. "Glad to finally have you home, lady," I hear her whisper.

The scene in front of me, my big sister cradling her long-lost niece in her arms, is finally too much for me to handle. I begin to cry, letting loose the stream of tears, emotion, and turmoil I'd been holding inside for eleven years.

Piper lets Vanessa out of her arms, wiping away the tears that had rolled down her cheeks.

"Go to your mom, pretty girl," she says, kissing Vanessa on the forehead.

Before I know it, I'm being hugged once again by my baby girl. I desperately hold her tighter, burying my face in her hair.

"Don't ever leave me again, okay, mom?" Vanessa says, her voice choked with tears.

A new wave of emotion sweeps over me, hearing the pleading in her voice.

"Uh-uh. Never again, my baby."

Sniffling, she whispers, "Promise?"

I nod. "I promise, baby. I promise."

"Are you still hungry, honey?" Coming up behind Vanessa, I take her now-empty plate off of the kitchen table.

"No, I'm good. That was really yummy, though. Aunt Piper, where'd you learn to cook like that?"

Piper smiles over her shoulder, her arms elbow-deep in soapy sink water. "My Grams used to cook with us all the time when we were growing up. Prue and your mom never really got into it, but I soaked it up like a sponge."

"Then there's me, who can barely make toast without burning the whole house down," Paige interjects, absent-mindedly hitting Piper's back with a dishrag.

"Paige, would you stop that?" Piper laughs, flicking soap at her. "I don't really want my back to be wet for the rest of the day."

"Oh. Sorry." Paige bundles up the wet rag and throws it into the washing machine.

"Ten points," I say, while Vanessa simultaneously holds up as piece of paper with "10" scrawled on it. "Great minds think alike, I guess." Laughing, I high-five my daughter.

"Is this gonna get obnoxious? Cause if it is, just let me know. I've got kids to pick up."

I stick out my tongue at Piper, who smirks in response.

"How many kids do you have, Aunt Piper?" Vanessa asks, chuckling at our utter lack of maturity.

"Three; Wyatt, Chris, and Prudence. Wyatt's gonna be eight in February, Chris is five and a half, and Prue is three," Piper replies, leaning against the island in the center of the kitchen.

"They're with mine and Piper's dad right now. Your grandfather," I tell her.

Vanessa looks confusedly from me, then to Paige. "Isn't he your dad too, Aunt Paige?"

She shakes her head. "No. I have a different dad."

Vanessa looks up at me, tilting her head slightly to the side.

A look passes between me and my sisters. Piper widens her eyes at me and nods her head towards Vanessa. Taking Paige's hand, we sit down across from my daughter.

"Well, Vanessa, when I was very young, my mom fell in love with her Wh-" Piper makes a noise and shakes her head quickly. "She fell in love with her w… wicked good friend Sam?" I look at Piper, who nods and urges me to continue.

"Why did you say 'wicked good friend Sam' like a question?" Vanessa asks me.

"I, uh, forgot his name for a second."

"You forgot your sister's father's name?"

"No, but… well _technically_ he's her father, but- oh, just let me finish."

"Sorry. Keep going."

"Where was I?" I ask Paige.

"Mom fell in love with Sam," she says.

"Oh, yeah. So, my mom and Sam had an affair, and she ended up getting pregnant with Paige. When my dad found out, he was furious."

"It was one of the reasons he left; Mom's affair," Piper interrupts.

"Mom and Sam decided to give me up at birth, in order to protect me and keep me a secret," Paige continues.

"Have you ever heard the saying 'those who don't know history are condemned to repeat it?'" I ask Vanessa. She nods. "Well, when I got pregnant with you, I didn't know Paige existed. Basically, I repeated Mom's history."

"When did you guys first meet?"

"We were reunited in 2001, after…" I take a breath, "after our sister Prue died." I try not to linger on the thought of my oldest sister's untimely death, because I feel tears beginning to well up in my eyes.

"Wait, she _died_?" Vanessa exclaims. "Oh my god, how?"

Before any of us have a chance to answer her, the front door slams shut.

"Piper? Phoebe? Paige? You girls here?" Dad shouts.

I sigh. "Come on, Vanessa. We'll tell you about Prue later. Let's go meet your Grandpa and cousins." I stand up and hold out my hand to Vanessa, smiling reassuringly.

She stands up and runs her fingers through her hair. "So many new people today."

I pat her back. "You're doing fine, sweetie, don't worry."

As I walk past Piper, who is still leaning against the island, she squeezes my hand.

"You're doing fine, little sister. You're going to be a great mommy."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

"There you are, girls," Dad says as the four of us walk into the foyer. Little Prue squirms in his arms when she sees her mommy, and squeals happily.

"Hi, baby!" Piper exclaims in a squeaky baby voice, and takes her daughter into her arms.

"Hi, Mom!" Wyatt and Chris say simultaneously, running through the front door.

"Hey, there, boys!" Piper ruffles their hair. Looking from Vanessa and me to Dad, she urges them towards the kitchen. "Come on, guys. Let's go get some snacks." She pulls Paige with her, who is standing awkwardly off to the side. "Aunt Paige! Let's go!"

"Oh! I'm coming." Tripping over her feet in the process, Paige follows Piper and the kids into the kitchen.

Looking up at my father, I see him staring intently from Vanessa to me and back again.

Taking my daughter's hand, I lead her into the living room with Dad following closely behind.

"So, Phoebe. You have a daughter," Dad begins.

"Yup." I smile awkwardly, not sure whether he's angry or surprised. "That's why Piper dropped the kids off with you. She didn't tell you?"

He shrugs. "She just said that you had to things to take care of, and she needed to get them out of the way in case it got… dangerous."

"Well, it didn't." I glance lovingly at Vanessa and pat the back of her hand. "I found my baby."

She looks up and smiles.

Dad sighs. "So how long ago did you… give her up?"

I purse my lips. "Eleven years ago. I, uh, got pregnant about two months before Grams died and had her a month before I came back home." I tell him the full story, avoiding his eyes the whole time. When I finish, I clasp my hands together and look down at them, waiting for him to get mad.

"Phoebe."

"What," I mutter, looking back up at him and furiously blinking away tears.

"I'm not angry with you." The corners of his mouth form a small, forgiving smile.

"Really?" I sniffle, wiping away the tears from my eyes.

"Really. You knew you didn't have the money or the resources to take care of a baby, and you made the right choice." Dad sits down on the coffee table in front of me. "I'm so proud of you. It must've been horribly difficult." He takes my face in his hands and kisses my forehead.

I laugh happily, tears leaking down my cheeks.

"I love you so much, honey, no matter what you do. Don't you ever forget that, okay?"

I nod. "Okay."

"You cry a lot here," Vanessa remarks, speaking for the first time.

"Well, you certainly got your Aunt Piper's sarcastic timing," Dad chuckles, shifting his attention to Vanessa.

"What can I say? She's definitely a Halliwell." Pulling her into a one-armed hug, I kiss the top of her head.

"Is she going to get her last name legally changed to Halliwell?" Dad asks.

"Oh, of course. If she wants to, I mean." Looking down at her, I raise my eyebrows questioningly.

"How about it, kid?" Piper interrupts, coming around the corner. "Do you want to become a Halliwell?"

"Piper, how long have you been standing there?" I ask exasperatedly.

"Not long, actually. I'm just sneaky like that. Paige! You can come out now!" she shouts back over her shoulder.

Paige comes limping out of the kitchen, pulling Wyatt on her leg, carrying Chris on her back, Prue in one arm, and holding a baby monitor in her free hand.

"Would somebody help me? Please?" she groans.

Laughing, Piper pries Wyatt off of Paige's leg, puts Chris back on the ground and picks up baby Prue in her own arms.

"What's with the baby monitor?" I ask.

Paige walks over to the couch, reaches behind a pillow, and pulls out the receiving end of the monitor.

I raise an eyebrow at her. "Really, Paige?" I roll my eyes.

"Hey, don't look at me! This was all Piper and Wyatt's idea." She hands the monitor to Piper and sits down on the couch.

I look at my older sister and widen my eyes. "You and _Wyatt_?"

She nods and bits her lip. "He's kind of an evil genius."

"I thought we tried to prevent that!" I exclaim, throwing my arms in the air.

"Well, we did, but apparently it backfired a little bit," Piper replies, swatting playfully at me.

"Hey!" I exclaim, messing up her hair. "Don't be immature." She sticks her tongue out at me.

"Mommy?" Chris says, halting our immaturity.

"Yeah, honey." Piper looks over my shoulder at her son, who is sitting on Paige's lap and staring intently at Vanessa.

"Who's she?"

Piper looks at me and nods her head slightly.

"Well, sweet boy," I begin, "this is Vanessa." I sit down next to Paige and transfer Chris onto my lap. "She's my daughter."

He gives me a strange look. "But she wasn't in your tummy."

I chuckle softly. "Yes she was, Chris. You don't remember because you weren't born yet."

"Was Wyatt?"

"No, sweetie. Vanessa's older than Wyatt."

"Where was she, then? Why hasn't she been here before?" Wyatt asks.

"Remember the story your Mommy and I told you boys about how Auntie Paige didn't live with us growing up?" They nod. "Well, it's the same thing with Vanessa. She had a different mommy and daddy for a little while."

"But you're her actual mommy, right, Aunt Phoebe?" Chris asks, looking up at me.

"Right." I smile and kiss his forehead. Looking up, I see my daughter looking at us from across the room. "Vanessa, come here and meet your cousins, honey."

She approaches the two young boys and waves slightly. "Hey, Wyatt…" She points at the scruffy blonde. "and Chris. I guess I'm your big cousin."

"And this," Piper says, "is my youngest, Prue." She props Prue up on her hip.

Vanessa's mouth curves into a smile as her littlest cousin begins to bounces up and down, looking absent-mindedly around the living room.

"Say hi to Vanessa, baby!" Piper exclaims in her sing-song kiddie voice.

Prue lifts up a pudgy hand and slaps her fingers to her palm in a toddler wave. "Hi, V'nessa," she gurgles.

"Wow. She actually said your name," Paige remarks. "She still can't say Aunt Paige. Two syllables; I mean, come on."

"Paige, it's okay. She'll say your name eventually," I chuckle. "She only says 'da-da' and 'ah Pheebee.'"

"And now she can add V'nessa to her limited vocabulary."

"Who's V'nessa?" a man's voice asks from the front door.

"Oh my god, it's Leo," Paige whispers.

"Yes, thank you, Paige. You're quite the sleuth," Piper says. "Here, Vanessa, take Prue and sit down next to your mom." She hands Prue to my daughter, who looks at me nervously as she sits down.

"Who's Leo?" she asks, glancing at the door.

"Piper's husband," I tell her. "He's a really good guy."

"She has a what?" I hear Leo exclaim. Piper 'shushes' him, and goes to shut the door behind him.

"Whoa, there!" another man's voice says. "Almost broke my nose there, Piper."

I look quickly at Paige, who is staring back at me anxiously.

"It's Henry! What do I do?" she whispers.

"Go talk to him! It looks like Piper's already filling him in," I tell her, glancing toward the still-open door.

She stands quickly, rushing over to her husband.

"Now who's _that_?" Vanessa whispers, her voice getting more anxious.

"That's Paige's husband, Henry." I look at my daughter concernedly, wrangling Chris to keep him sitting. "Why are you so anxious, honey? Everything's going to be fine." I finally let Chris go, and he bounces happily over to his parents.

Vanessa squeezes her eyes shut, and a single tear leaks down her cheek.

"Oh, baby, what's wrong? Talk to me," I plead. Taking her head in my hands, I kiss her forehead.

She shrugs, and wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. "I don't know. Too many new people, I guess."

I nod. "That's what I thought."

I motion for my father, who is sitting on the opposite couch with Wyatt, to take Prue and the boys into the conservatory.

"But _why_?" Chris whines. "Daddy just got home!"

"Mommy and Daddy have to talk to Aunt Phoebe, Chris. We're going to go in here and play for a little while," Dad says as he leads them away.

He closes the doors behind him, and I mouth 'thank you' before he turns around. He smiles and mouths 'you're welcome' back, and I return my attention to my daughter.

"You're not used to this much change so suddenly, are you, honey?"

She shakes her head. "The, uh, last huge change was when my parents, um…" She begins to cry, unable to hold back any longer.

I pull her into my arms, stroking her hair as she sobs into my shoulder.

I hear the talking behind me stop suddenly, and I quickly glance over my shoulder to see my sisters, Leo and Henry staring at me and my bawling daughter.

"Tissues!" I mutter at them. Piper cups her hand behind her ear and makes a 'huh?' face. I groan quietly. "Tissues!" I exclaim louder.

She quickly grasps the subject, and runs off to retrieve a box of Kleenex.

"Here you go, honey," Piper says soothingly, handing a couple of tissues to Vanessa.

Vanessa smiles slightly up at her aunt.

Piper strokes Vanessa's hair and goes to sit next to Leo on the opposite couch.

A few minutes pass when Vanessa sits with her face buried in my shoulder, silently sobbing. Paige, Piper, Henry, and Leo quietly observe from across the room, occasionally whispering a few hushed words in one another's ears.

When Vanessa finally calms down and her breathing returns to normal, she looks up at me with a sad smile on her face. "Sorry 'bout that," she says in a raspy voice.

"Why are you sorry?" I ask, stroking her hair. "It's a lot to take in all at once. I'd think there was something wrong with you if you didn't emotionally respond in some way."

She sniffles. "Thanks. I'm not a, uh, big fan of crying, so it's a bit awkward for me."

"I'm not a huge crier either, to tell you the truth. Paige and Piper, on the other hand, pretty much cry at the drop of a hat. Well, lately, anyways." I look up and smile innocently over at my sisters, who simultaneously smirk in response. "Hey, what can I say. We're an emotional family overall." I kiss my daughter on the top of the head, and pat her knee. "Do you think you're up for a little more meet and greet? Cause if you're not, I totally understand."

She nods, blowing her nose one last time. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Can I use the bathroom first, though?"

"Of course, baby. Third door on the left upstairs." I stand up to watch Vanessa run up the stairs, and then I turn slowly on my sisters and brothers-in-law. "What the hell were you guys chatting about the entire time?"

"Nothing," Paige says. I raise my eyebrows. "Seriously! We were just saying-"

"We were just saying how well you were handling your child's first meltdown," Piper interrupts.

I smile slightly. "Thanks." I sit back down on the couch. "I've watched you calm down Wyatt and Chris enough times, so I thought it couldn't be that difficult."

"She seems like a good kid, Phoebe," Leo says. "I'm glad she's finally come home."

I look over at him. "Me too, Leo. Dear god, me too."

"_Mom!_" Vanessa suddenly screams from upstairs.

"What? What is it?" I yell back, jumping to my feet.

Vanessa comes pounding down the stairs, her hair swinging wildly behind her. She clears the couch in one leap and lands behind me. "There's a guy upstairs."

Paige, Piper and I look at each other.

"Uh, stay here for a second, hun," Paige tells her.

We make our way slowly over to the foyer, ready for a demon to come bursting downstairs.

"Phoebe?" a man's voice says from the top of the stairs.

My eyes grow huge, and I look helplessly at my sisters. "Holy crap, it's Coop. What do I do?" Before they can respond, Coop comes down the stairs, looking at the three of us. "Honey! Hi! You're back early," I say cheerfully, hoping to quickly change the subject away from my long-lost daughter.

"Did that girl just call you Mom?" he asks, looking down at me.

"Yes." I take a deep breath, and motion for Vanessa to come to me. "This is Vanessa, Coop," I say once I've got my arms wrapped tightly around her. "She's my daughter."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

_Okay, I've had kind of a bad case of writer's block for a while, so I haven't been updating. I've been watching a lot of Charmed, though, and that's been helping. Thanks to _WellxWisher_ for the helpful critiques. Oh, and I've changed the year from 2008 to 2009, cause it just passed and everything. I've also gone back and fixed all the kids' ages to fit for '09. All credit for the flashbacks goes to Charmed, its creators, writers, and fabulous actors/actresses. _

Coop stares at me blankly for a few moments. "Your daughter?"

Vanessa grips my upper arm, and, sensing her anxiety, I stroke her hair and kiss the top of her head lightly.

"Everything's going to be okay, baby," I whisper softly, so only she hears me.

"Phoebe?" Coop takes a step forward. "You have a daughter?"

Taking a deep breath, I look up at my husband. "I do. And I would've told you about her sooner, but I just never thought she'd appear out of thin air and show up here and-"

"Phoebe. Phoebe, calm down," Coop says, chuckling softly. "It's alright." He lays his hands on my shoulders, and Vanessa visibly stiffens.

"It's _alright_?" I look up at Coop incredulously, my mouth slightly agape. "My long-lost daughter shows up on my doorstep and you're alright with it?"

He nods. "I know about her already."

I open my mouth to respond, but no sound comes out.

Piper comes up behind me and taps my shoulder. "Pheebes, why don't I take Vanessa on a tour of the house?" I nod silently. "Alright; come on, honey." Extricating Vanessa from my arms, and vice versa, Piper leads her up the stairs, followed by Paige, Leo, and Henry.

Once we're alone, I run my fingers through my hair and exhale loudly. "Oh, this is so much to handle at once."

Coop pulls me into his arms.

I take a deep breath and bury my face in his chest, wrapping my arms around him. After a few moments, I look up at him. "I'm sorry I never told you," I say softly.

He kisses me tenderly on the lips. "I know, baby, I know. And it's okay. I know you would tell me when you were ready, and if you were never ready, I was fine with that."

"So you were really copasetic with the idea that I have a child with another man?" I ask, resting my head on his chest once again, not really wanting to meet his eyes.

"Why wouldn't I be? Unless you still have feelings for…" He waits for me to fill in the name.

I sigh. "Clay. No, I don't still have feelings for _Clay_." I spit out his name.

I tear myself out of Coop's arms and stand a few feet away from him, facing the living room. "I mean, I thought I did… once. A long time ago. But those feelings are long gone now."

Coop walks up behind me. "When was the last time you saw him?"

"He came to visit me a little while after I moved back here from New York. He told me he was sorry for the way he acted, and I, being the gullible little whore that I was, believed him." I kick the side of the couch and angrily wipe tears from my face.

"Hey." Coop turns me around to face him. "You are not, nor have you ever been, a whore. Don't put yourself down like that." He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear.

"You didn't know me back then. I was irresponsible, extremely gullible, and did everything I could to get under Grams's skin. Mix all that together, add a few drinks and a guy, and that was me the night I got pregnant with Vanessa." I clench my jaw, trying desperately not to break down in tears.

"Phoebe."

I look to the source of the voice to see my sisters standing on the staircase with Vanessa in between them, flanked closely by Leo and Henry.

"What is it, Piper?" I snap, wiping more tears from my eyes.

"You weren't a whore, Phoebe. You were a kid," she says matter-of-factly.

"I thought you were supposed to be giving Vanessa a tour of the house, Piper." I glare at her.

"We were, but then Vanessa started feeling strange, and said she wanted to finish looking through the house later," she says, descending the remainder of the staircase.

Leo and Henry start towards the conservatory. "We're going to take the little kids to the zoo or something, leave you guys alone for a little while."

I nod, running my fingers through my hair. "And Dad's going too?"

"Yup," Leo replies, leading the little boys to the door, little Prue in his arms.

Dad comes up to me and kisses my forehead. "I love you, Phoebe," he says, embracing me. "Everything's going to work out fine," he whispers to me.

I smile and return his hug. "Thanks, Dad."

"You coming, Victor?" Leo asks, holding the door open.

"Yup." Dad smiles at me one last time, and follows the others out.

"Is everything okay, Mom?" Vanessa asks, coming up to me.

I turn to her and smile reassuringly. "Yeah, sweetie, I'm fine." I kiss her forehead. "Piper said that you felt weird; are you alright?"

She shrugs. "I guess. We were upstairs, and they were showing me around and stuff, and I just started getting like, hot flashes. I felt really angry for some reason, too; like I wanted to punch something."

I bite my lip. "Piper, Paige; can I talk to you guys in here a second?" They nod. "Vanessa, honey, why don't you go get to know Coop?" She looks up at me, pleading with her eyes. "Baby, it's okay." I chuckle and pull her into a hug. "I know you're not the best with new people, but Coop is a really nice guy; trust me," I say softly in her ear. She nods reluctantly, and walks over to Coop.

I watch them for a few moments, and then go into the kitchen followed by my sisters.

"Okay, you guys, I think Vanessa's an empath," I tell my sisters once my daughter and husband are out of earshot.

"An empath?" Paige asks skeptically.

"Yeah, it's possible, right? It makes sense that she'd inherit some of my powers."

"So do you think she gets premonitions, too?" Piper asks, leaning against the kitchen table.

"I wouldn't doubt it," I say, looking through the open kitchen door at Coop and Vanessa.

"Should we ask her?" Paige suggests, tapping on my shoulder.

I turn to face them and take a breath. "I don't know. I mean, the poor kid's been through so much today. I don't think we should throw something _that_ big at her quite yet."

"Well, we should probably let her in on the secret pretty soon. Wyatt and Chris don't exactly hide their magic at home," Piper points out. "If we don't tell her now, she's bound to stumble upon it sooner than later."

I look at both of my sisters for a few moments, contemplating what to do next. I soon realize that they're right.

"Okay, fine, let's tell her. But I'm breaking it to her gently; I don't want her just up and running the hell out of here after she finds out." Piper and I simultaneously swivel our heads to look at Paige.

It takes her a moment to figure out why we're staring at her.

"What are you guys…" She gasps. "Don't turn this around to be about me!" She smacks our arms. "You can't blame me! I barely knew you two, and you yanked me upstairs to chant a rhyme from a big old book with a symbol on the front to kill a big blue guy that blew in on a gust of wind! I think I reacted appropriately to the situation at hand." She crosses her arms across her chest and smirks.

I laugh. "Of course you did, Paige." I pat her shoulder. "Let's go tell my kid she's witchy."

A thud and a crash echoes from the front of the house.

"Phoebe!" Coop yells.

"What?!" I cry, running to him. "What ha-" I gasp at the sight in front of me; Vanessa is sprawled in the middle of the floor next to the living room, eyes closed, her chest barely rising and falling with her breaths. "Oh my god…" I fall to my knees beside her, desperately trying to wake her up. "Vanessa, honey, can you hear me?"

_The front door is opened by an old woman, revealing a fiery girl in her early twenties, flanked by two police officers. One has a firm grip on the girl's upper arm. _

"_Oh, you guys all didn't have to get outta bed for little ol' me!" she says sarcastically to the old woman and the two younger women who appeared behind her. _

"_Mrs. Halliwell?" asks the police officer gripping the girl's arm. _

"_Can I hear what she did first before I answer that?" the old woman asks, clearly fed up; this isn't the first time the girl's been brought home by the police. _

"_She was caught shop-lifting," the cop replies, leading the girl into the house. _

"_Oh, that is so not true!" the girl exclaims, releasing herself from the officer's grasp. "I forgot to the pay for them, Grams. The store's not even pressing charges."_

"_Phoebe," Grams groans, her disappointment painfully apparent in her voice. _

"_Oh, please don't sound so disappointed," Phoebe sighs, gripping the straps of her backpack. "Look, you're always talkin' about how we should spend more time together… and, well, here we all are." She glances quickly at the two women behind Grams. She smiles, attempting to lighten the mood. _

_Grams purses her lips and her gaze doesn't falter. _

_Phoebe's smile falls. "Okay, that was really fun." She ducks away from the officers and tries in vain to get past her grandmother. _

"_Phoebe." Grams turns around to face her granddaughter. Phoebe sighs and turns to face Grams as well. "What is the matter with you?" Grams asks her. "How can you behave so recklessly? What about your destiny? Your…" She glances quickly behind her at the two officers. "Your future." _

_Phoebe licks her lips, and levels her gaze with her grandmother's. "Well maybe my future plans don't match up with the ones that you've mapped out." _

**The scene changes. **

_Phoebe and two other women are standing on the front steps of the house, none of them looking too happy. _

"_I'm fine," Phoebe mutters. "Whatever."_

"_Okay, girls, now if you could just move a little closer," Grams says from the bottom of the stairs. "Uh, Phoebe, turn to me, I wanna be able to get your good side." Grams is holding a camera to her face with one hand, motioning with her other for Phoebe to turn. _

"_I don't think she has one today, Grams," Piper says, shifting from foot to foot. _

"_Can we please get this over with?" Phoebe snaps impatiently. _

"_Why, you got plans?" Prue says sarcastically. _

"_Prue, uh, all I'm getting is shoulder," Grams says. _

"_With anyone that I know?" Prue asks Phoebe. _

"_I'm sure beneath all this sarcasm there is a point. And if it has anything to do with Roger-"_

"_Well, I mean, he said that you called him yesterday," Prue interrupts. _

"_Looking for you!" Phoebe exclaims. "Prue, I'm not gonna defend myself when I didn't do anything wrong." _

"_Really." Prue looks away, unconvinced. _

"_I'm just tryin' to be nice to the guy, considering he's gonna be part of this family soon. You know, which I'm not even sure _I_ wanna be a part of this family." _

"_The sun is shifting; can you move down a step, please?" Grams interjects, clearly getting agitated. _

_The three sisters move down a step, and jump right back into their argument. _

"_And why would I waste my time on a wimp who's got mother issues?" Phoebe asks Prue. _

_Grams brings the camera back up to her face, but lowers it again. She sighs and looks away as the girls continue bickering. _

"_I don't know, but why should I believe anything you say? I mean, you don't even know the difference between what belongs to you and what belongs to oh, let's say Macy's!" Prue retorts. _

"_Alrighty, then!" Piper intervenes before the fight gets really ugly. "Are we done?" _

_Suddenly, Grams clutches at her chest and takes a sharp breath. _

"_Grams!" the girls shout, rushing to their grandmother. Phoebe takes hold of Grams's hands. _

"_Okay, okay, take shallow breaths," Piper instructs her, worry exploding in her voice. _

_Grams does as Piper says. _

"_Should I call the doctor?" Prue asks after a couple of moments. _

_Grams shakes her head. "No doctor. Just a picture." Prue, Piper and Phoebe look ashamed. "Is it too much for an old lady to ask her granddaughters to retract their claws, stand still, and look at me long enough to take one lousy picture?" _

_The girls all look at the ground and walk over onto the lawn, followed by Grams. _

_She snaps a picture; Phoebe on the right, Piper on the left, Prue in the middle. _

**Scenes changes again. **

_Phoebe walks into the kitchen and snatches keys off of a hook. _

"_Phoebe! Uh, Piper and I were just thinking of whipping up something we'll regret tomorrow," Grams says, turning on the oven. "Care to join us?" _

_Phoebe gives her a blank stare._

_Grams takes the hint and changes the subject. "Where you headed?"_

_Phoebe blinks once. "Out." She turns around without another word and walks through the back door. _

**Outside the attic door. **

_Grams steps onto the landing, holding a vile in her hand. Suddenly, she screams and clutches at her chest, dropping the vile. _

_She falls and tumbles down the stairs. She lands at the bottom, unconscious._

_Piper is the first one to her side. "Grams? Grams?" she asks over and over, lifting her grandmother's head onto her lap. "Prue, Phoebe, somebody help!" _

"_Oh my god…" Prue rushes to Grams's side, followed closely by Phoebe. _

_Prue checks Grams's pulse, while Piper strokes her hair and Phoebe grasps her hand; they're all on the verge of tears. _

"_Oh, god…" Piper whimpers. _

**Scene changes one last time. **

_Phoebe is sitting on a couch in the foyer, staring off into space. _

_Prue and Piper come walking down the stairs, Piper wiping her eyes from crying. _

"_I'd still like to know what she was doing up there," Piper says. _

"_Up where?" Phoebe asks, turning to look at her sisters. _

"_Piper thinks that Grams was up in the attic before she died," Prue tells her._

_Phoebe shakes her head. "That's not possible. She always told us that the attic was sealed off." _

"_Yeah, well what was she doing coming down those stairs?" Piper asks angrily, starting to choke up with tears again. _

_Phoebe shifts on the couch to face Piper and Prue more directly. "Um… I think the more important question is…" She takes a breath. "What are _we_ doing?" _

_Prue looks at her. "What do you mean?"_

_ "I mean, precisely what Grams was always concerned about," she replies. "Our future. The only reason we're all still here, still… together, is because of her. And now, Prue, you've already got one foot out the door, and Piper, I know you don't want to bunk with me any longer than you have to. So let's face it; she was the glue." _

_ Piper sniffles. "Why don't we talk about this over dinner…? I'll make, um, one of Grams's favorite meals. She always liked the idea of me being in the kitchen." She smiles slightly. _

_ "Uh, actually, I'm sort of supposed to spend the night with Roger," Prue says softly. _

_ Piper takes a breath. "What about you, Pheebes? Table for two?" _

_ Phoebe sighs. "Uh… actually, I was thinking about… getting outta here." _

_ "Are you going out?" Piper asks. _

_ Phoebe shakes her head. "No; going away." She averts her eyes, rises to her feet, and picks up a dufflebag. "I, um, I'm not sure what my future holds, but I do know that it's not in San Francisco." She throws a jacket over her arm, and turns to face her sisters. _

_ "Phoebe, you don't have to…" Prue begins. _

_ Phoebe smiles half-heartedly. "It's okay. We all know that the only thing that I contribute to this threesome is trouble, so…I'm gonna go and see what New York thinks of me." She pauses for a moment, looking at Piper and Prue. "Whatever my destiny may be, I might find it there." _

_ "Phoebe, what about school?" Piper asks quickly. _

_ "Well, school will still be there… if I come back."_

_ Prue and Piper stand in the middle of the foyer, staring at the floor. _

_ "Grams always said that we had a purpose. So… maybe we'll have an easier time finding it on our own." _

_ Piper purses her lips and furiously blinks away tears. _

_ Without so much as an actual good-bye, Phoebe turns around and walks out the front door. _

_ After a few moments, Prue breaks the silence. "Uh, I guess I'm gonna…" She nods towards the stairs. _

_ Piper nods. "Yep." Sadness is thick in her voice. _

_ "Okay." Prue smiles slightly and puts a hand on Piper's shoulder as she walks away, and disappears up the stairs. _

_ Piper is left, all alone, in the foyer; her tears are begging to be let free. She brings a hand to her mouth, and begins to sob. _

V

I gasp, my eyes bursting open, and I gulp for air.

The first thing I see is my mother kneeling beside me, on the verge of tears. When she sees I'm awake, she pulls me into a hug so tight that all the air that I just regained is suddenly squeezed from my lungs.

"Oh thank god!" she exclaims, holding me at arm's length. She holds my torso at a 90 degree angle, quickly looking me over. "Baby, what happened?" she frets, helping me stand up.

"I, uh…" I run my fingers through my hair. "Honestly, I'm not sure. Coop and I were talking, and I noticed the picture of you, Piper and Prue, cause I have the same one. I went to go pick it up, but when I touched it…" I shake my head. "Ugh, I just don't know."

Mom glances over her shoulder at Piper and Paige. Piper nods at her, and Paige smiles slightly. Coop points behind his shoulder up the stairs, and Mom nods. He walks away up the stairs, leaving the four of us alone to talk.

I knit my eyebrows together. "What? I know something's up."

"Well aren't you just the little sleuth," Piper chuckles, sitting down on the couch.

I look at my mom and raise an eyebrow. "If it involves me, I think I deserve to know."

Mom looks down at her hands. "Uh, sweetie, your aunts and I have to tell you something." She brings her eyes back up to meet mine. "Something we're not sure you'll take to very well." She pauses.

I raise both my eyebrows and shrug my shoulders. "Well? The only way we're gonna see what happens is if you tell me."

She laughs. "Good point." Taking a breath, she begins. "After you were born, I decided to move back here, to live with Piper and Prue. The day I got back, strange things started happening."

"What kind of strange things?" I ask.

She sits down on the arm of the couch. "Magical things."

I stare at her skeptically. "'Magical' as in serendipity, wish on a star, love at first sight stuff, or 'magical' as in Harry Potter, Hogwarts, spells…"

Mom purses her lips. "Harry Potter."

I widen my eyes. "Seriously?"

She nods. "During the Salem Witch Trials, one of our ancestors, Melinda Warren, was accused of practicing witchcraft. Unfortunately, the accusers were right; she was a witch. She had the power to freeze time, see the future, and move objects with her mind. Before she was burned at the stake, she vowed that each generation of Warren witches would become stronger and stronger, culminating in the arrival of three sisters. These three would be the most powerful good witches the world has ever known; the Charmed Ones.

"Piper, Prue and I were the original, and when Prue died, the Charmed Ones were reconstituted with Paige."

I pause after finishing the story, giving the information time to sink in for Vanessa.

She swallows. "You guys are… witches?" Piper, Paige and I nod. "Do you have powers?" she asks timidly.

"Well, Piper can freeze time and explode objects-" Piper exhibits her powers, blowing up and freezing the shards of a flower vase.

Vanessa jumps. "Holy! Oh my god, that scared the crap out of me."

I ran my hand down the length of her hair and pat her back.

"Paige can move objects, like Prue could, but in a different way…" Paige holds out her hand and orbs a picture into it. "And she can teleport herself like that, too."

"I'm a witch, too, then, right?" she asks, fidgeting uncomfortably.

I nod. "That's right, sweetie."

She looks at the ground. "I, uh, think I had a vision or something earlier; when I fell down."

"Seriously?" I ask incredulously. "Of the past or future?"

"Of the- wait, you can have visions of the past?" I nod. "Well, then of the past, I'm assuming, cause you and Piper looked really young, and Prue was alive."

"What was it about?"

"Um… it went through a few scenes. The first was you being brought home by two police officers and your Grams was lecturing you about your future. The next was you and Prue arguing about someone named Roger, and Grams was trying to take a picture of you, Prue and Piper." She stops, not sure if she should go on.

"Was there more?" I ask softly. She nods. "Continue, then, sweetie." I slide down from the arm of the couch to sit beside her. "It's okay."

"Well, the next one was kinda short; Grams and Piper were in the kitchen, and you were going out. Grams asked you if you wanted to help make food, and you just like, glared at her. When she asked where you were going, you just said 'out' and walked away."

"You got all those premonitions just from touching a picture of us?" Piper asks, raising an eyebrow.

Vanessa nods. "There were two more things I saw." Suddenly she turns to me. "You never said what your powers are, mom."

"I didn't?" I look at Piper. She shakes her head. "Oh, uh, okay then." Standing, up, I say "I levitate," and demonstrate. "I'm an empath, which means I can read peoples' feelings, and I also get premonitions."

"So I get the premonitions from you…" Vanessa nods her head slowly in understanding.

"And when you were upstairs with Piper and Paige and you felt angry all of a sudden, I think that was you unintentionally tapping into your latent empath powers. You channeled how I was feeling."

She cocks her head to the side. "Really?"

"Mhm."

"I wonder if I can levitate, too…" she wonders aloud.

"Well, if you can, it'll manifest itself at a time of dire need," Paige interjects.

Piper and I give her a strange look.

She shrugs. "What? I can be deep."

I chuckle. "Of course you can, Paige. Whatever you say, darling."

She sticks her tongue out at me.

"And classy, too? My goodness, you're on a roll."

"Shut up," she laughs.

"Vanessa, honey, you never told us the rest of your premonition," Piper interrupts.

"Well, you're in a hurry," Paige remarks.

"No, Paige, shush," Piper says, waving her off with a flourish of her hand. "I'm noticing a pattern in the events, that's all."

"Yeah, they're showing that a troublemaker Phoebe was," Paige retorts smartly.

Piper points at her, fixing her with a glare hardened by years of tending to younger sisters and punishing children. She opens her mouth to say something, takes a breath, then- "Shut up."  
Paige laughs.

"You two are a bad example," I reprimand, trying extremely hard not to break down in a fit of giggles.

"Oh, yes, Phoebe, because you are a shining example of perfection in a human being," Paige sarcastically retorts.

"You are horrible today!" Piper exclaims with a laugh.

"What can I say?" Paige replies. "It's a gift."

"Vanessa, why don't you finish your premonition, before these two get into a slap fight or something," I suggest, chuckling.

"Where did I leave off?" she asks, running her hand along her throat.

"Uh, I think the last thing you said was delinquent Phoebe escaping into the wild blue yonder," Paige fills in.

"You know what, Paige, you're lucky I don't blow you up right about now," Piper warns her.

Paige covers her mouth with her hand and suppresses laughter.

"Okay then, well, after that I had a vision of your Grams falling down stairs, which I assume was when she…" she trails off.

"That was when she died, yeah," I finish after a moment, running my fingers through my hair. "She had a heart condition, and the stress she was under didn't do her any good."

"The last scene was a little after Grams died, and you were leaving to go to New York."

"That was literally one of the hardest things I ever had to do; leave my sisters and not tell them the real reason why," I say softly, looking down at my hands. "If I could go back, I'd do it all differently." Shifting on the couch, I pull my knees to my chest and rest my head on them.

"Grams would've gone crazy if she had found out," Piper points out.

"I know, that's one of the reasons I decided to go to New York," I tell her. "I didn't want to add to the stress she was under, you know?"

"You guys must've really loved her," Vanessa observes.

"Well, after our mom died, she was all we had left. Granted, she was super overprotective and wouldn't let us do anything that would endanger our 'destiny,' but she loved us like no one ever had." I smile and shake my head, remembering all the times she got mad at me for acting out as a teenager. "Well, besides Mom, of course, but I didn't have any memories of her alive."

"We'll have to introduce you to her sometime soon," Piper says. "It'll make her happy; another great-granddaughter."

"It'll be interesting when you have to explain to her why Vanessa was kept a secret," Paige says, already planning out possible scenarios in her mind.

"You just live for drama, don't you, Paige?" I roll my eyes. She smiles innocently.

Vanessa looks at Piper confusedly. "How can you introduce us? She's dead."

Piper puts a finger to her lips. "A good witch never reveals her secrets."


End file.
